St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-19

Something rather strange happened
to the passengers. They were all turned
to stone. Whether this was the effect
of the intense speed; whether it was
the result of the awful spell cast about
the Internal train, or whether it was the
natural hardness of their worldly hearts
that petrified them, is unimportant to
know. But when they came back to
warmth and activity, although many
would not have noticed the change, a
great change in character had taken
place.
The young bride was still as beauti-
full, the young husband as manly and
superb. But each had descended from
the spiritual plain which their conse-
Grated love had occupied to the dreary
level of the officer and the actress. For
the devil says that with an officer adul-
terry is something more than paStime-
1t is an occupation; and, with the ac-
treSS, there is nothing so inartiStic as
cOnStancy.
The English matrOn had often said to
herself that she would give her sons to
marry her eldest daughter, and this
time the Devil had taken her up. AS
for the American, he was so much alb
sorbed in the extraordinary speed at
which the train was flying that he was
ready to marry anybody.
* hope she'll go to hell" said the
American. as he held his watch in his
hand and wondered where the train was
going to.
The devil, who, as huge joke, was
managing the brakes, heard the remark
and said to himself with low chuckle,
Perhaps we can oblige you"
As for the other young girl and the
negro, they looked at each other as a
diamond looks at the coal.
I'VE are the same flesh" they muir
INJURED, as their teeth chartered.
AS for the students, they had very lit
tie use for their observation car, and
were spending their time engaged in the
one passion which absorbed ali other
passions. They were gambling and
cheating, if the truth were told.
And the train kept flying. The secret
desire of each wicked passenger was
satisfied in this aspiration for mere
speed. And it is thus the spendthrifts
part with their money; lovers with their
DilSS: business men with their honor;
nations with their greatnes, and stars
with their place in the sky. What in
Sensate passion! How it eats up art,
health and existence! The world has
st its sculptors, its painters, its novel
lists, its dramatistS, almost its men and
women-all for the want of little time!
You may not believe it. thoughtIess
reader. but if the Devil is not good
preacher, he is good critic.
Ill.
The train stopped at a graveyard, and
ali the party got out. There was a
broad smile on the face of the moon.
The clock in the belfry tower struck
twelve. The mad thirteen had become
in f1,n
time. and the Devil had indulgently
provided a little entertainment in the
way of a churchyard ball. The young
wife danced with the officer and the
husband oonSoled himself with the
actress. The Yankee instructed his
English wife into the mysteries of the
''pige0n-wing." The Devil kicked
Death Off the top of a tombstone and
put the negro in his place. This i'm
mediately ingratiated him in the eyes of
the young girls, who admired greatly
the music the negro performed with a
pair of dead mems bones. The matron
exchanged society gossip with the Devil.
And as for the students, they were too
busy to dance; they gambied on the
grave of their mother.
Have you heard of the dance of death?
Possibly, but you have never seen it.
There Is something horrible in the idea,
Is there not? And what is the Sc
cret of this horror? 1t is the grace of
the dance, the most beautiful thing in
nature destroyed by the foul hands of
the demon, Speed. And yet as it was
danced that night by the mad thirteen
there was rhythm in the measures.
The forms OF art were preserved. But
the loving spirit of true beauty had fled.
The party were almost tired when the
Devil announced that the time for start
ing had arrived. Almost breathless.
and yet LII wild fever, they hurried
pell-mell to the Internal train. The fire
was glowing fierceiy in the engine.
Fritz was at his post. He, too, had re-
turned. Horrible despair had possess
sion of his pinched features. It was
the one day in the year he was per-
mitted to see Blond;netta. 1t was the
Day of the DeAd The day had come
and passed. 1t is a singular fact that,
perhaps, ought not to be omitted, that
although stop had been made, the
hands OF the clock were still at II when
the train left the churchyard. They
had not moved a hairs breadth. The
mystery, however, is easily explained.
The Devil succeeds in annihilating the
blessing which God created for His
creatureS-time and space
".
The Yankee, who had now made the
acquaintance of the Devil, left his affi-
anced bride with his prospective mother
iil-law, and accompanied the Devil to
the cab Of the engine.
''You say that we will eventually get
to hell:'" said the Yankee.
81 here is no doubt Of it," replied the
Devil, with a busineSs-like air.
81 hope we will make fast time.'
'The fastest time poSSible''
''But there is one thing which eXciteS
my curiosity" said the Yankee II
understand you to say that we are going
an Infinitely large number of miles in
an Infinitely small space of time. Some
n pfiop's might say we are not going at
Some people might say so," replied
the Devil.
Strange to relate, the Devils reply
gave the American very little satisfac-
ton, but set him to thinking. And the
train still kept flying.
Certainly Fritz was wonderful engi-
neer. There were no hot boxes. The
engine required no coal. The dead body
OF the murdered man was all-Suiticient.
The train was Lit up with colored
lights. But the passengers grew viSlbly
impatient with this eternal night. Be
sides, there were indications of a grow
ing temperature. An unpleas-
ant and peculiar heat began to
steal through the suffocating air. A hor-
rible dearth crept over their souls. AS
the train kept on increasing its speed
these phenomena increased in their in
tensity. The whistle of the Internal
engine Shrieked sounds too awful for
description. DiSeord is only word in
flnltely and vaguely describing it. With
every physical sensation there came to
the wicked thirteen a moral twinge
causing suffering more acute than any
pain can tell of.
Suddenly. in the distance, was heard
the echo of a myriad of cries. Straight
into the blast fires of hell ran engine
fi.aiD nd oil